Plane overshoots runway, bursts into flames

A chartered plane with 16 persons on board ran off the runway and burst into flames after landing at the Stord airport Tuesday morning. Three of those on board were later found dead in the wreckage.
"The plane didn't manage to stop," eye witness Sigmund Brakedal from Bømlo told web site bt.no.

Thirteen people on board the Atlantic Airways flight from Stavanger escaped from the burning aircraft, but three were declared missing. Their bodies were later found inside the aircraft.

The plane, which was chartered by Norwegian industrial concern Aker Kværner, came in for a landing at around 7:30am but failed to stop, rolled off the end of the runway, crashed and immediately started to burn. according to witnesses at the scene.

Several of those who managed to escape were injured and rushed to Stord Hospital. Others who sustained more minor injuries were being treated at the scene.

Norway's main rescue service center (Hovedredningssentralen, HRS) at Stavanger's Sola Airport said there were 12 passengers and four crew members on board the flight. The aircraft is based in the Færø Islands but runs charters from Stord for Aker Kværner in connection with the industrial firm's work on the Ormen Lange offshore installation.

Dispatchers sent a Sea King helicopter, an air ambulance, ordinary ambulances and police to the accident scene, where the situation was described as "chaotic" by one witness. Firefighters immediately started battling flames from the plane, which was described as a British Aerospace BAe 146-200.

Stord is a large island between Stavanger and Bergen on Norway's west coast. The cause of the accident was under investigation.